Today I had the privilege of having my house plans torn up by an angry (angry = understatement) salesperson at Andersens in Morayfield (a floor coverings store). I also kind of got my crazy on.... but hey a girls got to defend her house-plans. Right?
It all started a couple of weeks ago when Sean and I decided that after almost three years of living on concrete floors, it was time to get ourselves some tiles.
First Store Visit
We drove out to Andersens at Morayfield and checked out the tile selection. We fell in love with one particular tile almost straight away. Salesperson x (who also happens to be the store manager) was super helpful, gave Max a lolly-pop and basically did everything right. I remember looking at Sean and thinking, 'yay, we're finally getting tiles!'. We handed over our house-plans to her so that she could take a copy. Salesperson x let us know that she would get back to us on Monday with a quote. I almost got grumpy at that point, the shop was empty and it was an hour and a half until closing and I would have loved a quote on the spot. But she was so nice and I often have high expectations so I let it slide. She also lent us the one and only version of the tile we liked so that we could take it home and double check that it looked perfect in our home.
Phone Call One
The following Wednesday (two days after she was supposed to give us the quote), I got a phone-call from salesperson x. She said (and I quote):
'Hi. It's salesperson x from Andersons. Why haven't you returned my tile?'
I said: 'We've been waiting for you to get back to us with that quote, and we'll be bringing the tile back in on the weekend like we discussed'.
She said: Oh, so you actually like the tile. Ok, I'll do up a quote and call you back.'
Seriously? I was starting to doubt whether or not she wanted our business.
Phone Call Two
Salesperson x called me back two hours later and gave me a really competitive quote.
Store Visit Three
Sean and I were really busy on the following weekend and didn't have time to get tiles organised. So I ducked into the store and returned the tile. Everyone was busy, so I just left it on the counter.
Phone Call Three
Yesterday (five days after I dropped the tile into the store), I got a phone call from salesperson x. She wanted to know if she had gotten around to calling me and giving me a quote... Umm what?! Against my better judgement I confirmed that yes, she had given me a quote and that we would be in on the weekend to buy the tiles.
Store Visit Three (the one where things get interesting...)
Today Sean, Max and I (along with Sean's parents) went into the store with the intention to buy the tiles. We showed Sean's parents the tile we wanted, but they weren't convinced. We had a look at all the other tiles and ended up choosing a different one. It was still the same price and we decided we would still go ahead and buy the tiles today.
Aggie (my mother-in-law) said that she wanted to see if we could get a better price on the tiles so we all headed up to the counter for a chat. The minute Aggie (who is as nice as pie, and has the sweetest french accent) started talking, salesperson x got her back up. She became argumentative and stubborn. After talking about possibly getting a lower price if we paid cash I asked her if the it would be the same price for the new tile. She explained that because the pack sizes were different, the price would differ slightly (fair enough). So we asked her to work out a new price for us. She made it very clear that we were inconveniencing her and went off to do it. (Keep in mind she had already worked out how many square meters we needed, the delivery cost and what percentage of extra tiles we wanted, so it was just a simple equation.)
Sean (who is amazing at diffusing awkward situations) picked up on the tension and cracked a couple of jokes with her and got her to relax a bit. I figured things would go better after that.
After a couple of minutes of adding things up. She said really abruptly (the way some people do when their feeling defensive): 'Well, this is going to cost you a lot more than the other tile. $450 more to be exact.'
I asked her why and she said (keeping up her aggressive/defensive attitude) 'like I said, it's a different package size'. I questioned this. How can two tiles that cost the same per square metre cost $450 more for the same amount of tiles. I understood that there was going to be a slight difference, but $450?!.
After going back and forward a few times. Salesperson x finally agreed that it was a bit of a big difference. She said: 'I must have done your first quote wrong' and went off to recalculate it.
She came back over (looking happy and triumphant) and said, 'yep I did your first quote wrong. It is going to be much more expensive.'
By this point I was tired of her attitude and had already decided that we were going to find a different Andersens. But as a matter of interest I asked her if she would honour the original price for us. That must have been the tipping point for her. She snapped and yelled 'NO! That would be a complete waste of my time'.
Scary!
I told her that we appreciated her time, but a $450 mistake on a quote was too much for us and that we wouldn't be buying the tile. At this point I should've just walked out with the rest of my family.
I stayed in the store though because I wanted to take a photo of the tile so that I could remember which one I wanted. Saleperson x said that she didn't mind if I took a photo, but wouldn't take her hand off the sticker. I wanted the sticker in the photo, because that was where all the information about the tile was written.
The phone rang and salesperson x answered it. Whilst she was taking, I moved the tile out from under her hand and tried to take a photo. She absolutely freaked out, hung up (!) on the customer on the phone, snatched the tile out from under my hand and said that I couldn't take anymore photos. I explained that I wanted the info label and she said I couldn't take a photo, but that she would write down the info on a card. At this point I twigged to the fact that she didn't want me having a record of the price. Which I was totally ok with, because I just wanted the info anyway.
When she handed me the card with the details on it, I said thanks and reached down to pick up the copy of my house plans and leave. She freaked out (again!), snatched the plans out of my hand and yelled 'YOU CAN"T TAKE THOSE'. I realised that she was worried about the original (incorrect) quote that was stapled to the front of them.
I tried to tell her that I didn't care about the quote and that I just wanted the plans. She totally wasn't getting it though and was super worked-up by this point she said (still yelling) 'THEY'RE MY PROPERTY NOW AND YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM BACK'. I got really frustrated at this point and demanded that she give me my house plans back. Instead she tore them into tiny pieces.
I totally should have just accepted the fact that she was completely nuts and walked out at this point.... But I didn't. I started saying to her 'why are you so scared? What are you trying to hide? Are you worried because you stuffed up' etc. As I followed her across the store to where she was putting the tiles back. She kind of brought the angry, sick of being pushed around by salespeople person inside of me.
As she put the tiles back on the shelf I said to her 'I can come back in Monday and take a photo of the tiles, or you can just let me take a photo now'.
She yelled (yep still yelling): 'Fine take the photo.'
So I did and then she freaked out again... She yelled 'get out of my store and don't come back'.
So I left... Only I stopped at the door and yelled back at her: 'I won't ever be coming back here. You are bonkers'. Definitely not my finest moment. But hey, she had just spent the last few minutes yelling at me, surely I deserved a little yelling of my own.
Anyway, I got out into the carpark, saw Sean and his family waiting for me and instantly burst into tears. The whole tearing up of my plans really unsettled me.
The story does have a happy ending though. We went to Andersens at Rothwell where we spoke to J, who was super, super nice and really helped us out.
I guess all's well that ends well :)
Store Visit Three
Sean and I were really busy on the following weekend and didn't have time to get tiles organised. So I ducked into the store and returned the tile. Everyone was busy, so I just left it on the counter.
Phone Call Three
Yesterday (five days after I dropped the tile into the store), I got a phone call from salesperson x. She wanted to know if she had gotten around to calling me and giving me a quote... Umm what?! Against my better judgement I confirmed that yes, she had given me a quote and that we would be in on the weekend to buy the tiles.
Store Visit Three (the one where things get interesting...)
Today Sean, Max and I (along with Sean's parents) went into the store with the intention to buy the tiles. We showed Sean's parents the tile we wanted, but they weren't convinced. We had a look at all the other tiles and ended up choosing a different one. It was still the same price and we decided we would still go ahead and buy the tiles today.
Aggie (my mother-in-law) said that she wanted to see if we could get a better price on the tiles so we all headed up to the counter for a chat. The minute Aggie (who is as nice as pie, and has the sweetest french accent) started talking, salesperson x got her back up. She became argumentative and stubborn. After talking about possibly getting a lower price if we paid cash I asked her if the it would be the same price for the new tile. She explained that because the pack sizes were different, the price would differ slightly (fair enough). So we asked her to work out a new price for us. She made it very clear that we were inconveniencing her and went off to do it. (Keep in mind she had already worked out how many square meters we needed, the delivery cost and what percentage of extra tiles we wanted, so it was just a simple equation.)
Sean (who is amazing at diffusing awkward situations) picked up on the tension and cracked a couple of jokes with her and got her to relax a bit. I figured things would go better after that.
After a couple of minutes of adding things up. She said really abruptly (the way some people do when their feeling defensive): 'Well, this is going to cost you a lot more than the other tile. $450 more to be exact.'
I asked her why and she said (keeping up her aggressive/defensive attitude) 'like I said, it's a different package size'. I questioned this. How can two tiles that cost the same per square metre cost $450 more for the same amount of tiles. I understood that there was going to be a slight difference, but $450?!.
After going back and forward a few times. Salesperson x finally agreed that it was a bit of a big difference. She said: 'I must have done your first quote wrong' and went off to recalculate it.
She came back over (looking happy and triumphant) and said, 'yep I did your first quote wrong. It is going to be much more expensive.'
By this point I was tired of her attitude and had already decided that we were going to find a different Andersens. But as a matter of interest I asked her if she would honour the original price for us. That must have been the tipping point for her. She snapped and yelled 'NO! That would be a complete waste of my time'.
Scary!
I told her that we appreciated her time, but a $450 mistake on a quote was too much for us and that we wouldn't be buying the tile. At this point I should've just walked out with the rest of my family.
I stayed in the store though because I wanted to take a photo of the tile so that I could remember which one I wanted. Saleperson x said that she didn't mind if I took a photo, but wouldn't take her hand off the sticker. I wanted the sticker in the photo, because that was where all the information about the tile was written.
The phone rang and salesperson x answered it. Whilst she was taking, I moved the tile out from under her hand and tried to take a photo. She absolutely freaked out, hung up (!) on the customer on the phone, snatched the tile out from under my hand and said that I couldn't take anymore photos. I explained that I wanted the info label and she said I couldn't take a photo, but that she would write down the info on a card. At this point I twigged to the fact that she didn't want me having a record of the price. Which I was totally ok with, because I just wanted the info anyway.
When she handed me the card with the details on it, I said thanks and reached down to pick up the copy of my house plans and leave. She freaked out (again!), snatched the plans out of my hand and yelled 'YOU CAN"T TAKE THOSE'. I realised that she was worried about the original (incorrect) quote that was stapled to the front of them.
I tried to tell her that I didn't care about the quote and that I just wanted the plans. She totally wasn't getting it though and was super worked-up by this point she said (still yelling) 'THEY'RE MY PROPERTY NOW AND YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM BACK'. I got really frustrated at this point and demanded that she give me my house plans back. Instead she tore them into tiny pieces.
I totally should have just accepted the fact that she was completely nuts and walked out at this point.... But I didn't. I started saying to her 'why are you so scared? What are you trying to hide? Are you worried because you stuffed up' etc. As I followed her across the store to where she was putting the tiles back. She kind of brought the angry, sick of being pushed around by salespeople person inside of me.
As she put the tiles back on the shelf I said to her 'I can come back in Monday and take a photo of the tiles, or you can just let me take a photo now'.
She yelled (yep still yelling): 'Fine take the photo.'
So I did and then she freaked out again... She yelled 'get out of my store and don't come back'.
So I left... Only I stopped at the door and yelled back at her: 'I won't ever be coming back here. You are bonkers'. Definitely not my finest moment. But hey, she had just spent the last few minutes yelling at me, surely I deserved a little yelling of my own.
Anyway, I got out into the carpark, saw Sean and his family waiting for me and instantly burst into tears. The whole tearing up of my plans really unsettled me.
The story does have a happy ending though. We went to Andersens at Rothwell where we spoke to J, who was super, super nice and really helped us out.
I guess all's well that ends well :)
Hi Tamsyn
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to come over and say hi I'm new to blogland and would love for you to say hello or join my sisterhood http://lovewendysworld.blogspot.com nned all the help I can get LOL.
I think you were amazing to be so patient for so long with the Tile place person how rude, glad to hear everything worked out in the end.
Talk soon nice to meet you in blogland
Always Wendy :)
Hi Wendy. Thanks for stopping by :)
ReplyDeleteWow, that is one freaky salesperson! Maybe she really, really hates her job!
ReplyDeleteYEah, I really just think she was a little bit crazy...
ReplyDeleteWow!!! That's insane.. If it were me I would be calling their head office to report this girl - that is not ok! I would also be asking for them to provide me with compensation for the plans! :)
ReplyDeleteI have written a letter to Andersen's but haven't been brave enough to send it yet!
ReplyDeleteOMG - I hope you've sent that letter Tamsyn. I would've, without delay. What a b i t c h. =)
ReplyDeleteOk I'm convinced, I'll send it in tomorrow :)
ReplyDeleteWow... what a bitch. I would have lost it when she ripped up the plans. Congrats on staying so calm. I'm from Brisbane and will be telling everyone I know to avoid the store
ReplyDeleteLovin' your blog. Only just stumbled across it so now I'm reading all your posts like a stalker. I'm a bit obsessed with blogs and so far I've only found one other that's by someone from Brissy!